Sportswashing Explained

OPENING 

Host: There’s a lot going on in the world right now. When politics is too much, people usually retreat somewhere for relief. For me, it’s usually to friends and community and dance class. 

NBC Sports: audio from Newcastle match.

Host: From what I hear, it’s great to just lose yourself in a game. Now, for most people on the planet, that game, that sport, it’s probably soccer, or football.. 

Archival/BBC: The 2034 World Cup will be in Saudi Arabia.

Host: Wah wah. No shade to Saudi Arabia, but it’s not going to get you away from politics.

Archival/Al Jazeera English: Images played out relentlessly worldwide as Saudi Arabia denied Jamal Khashoggi had been killed. 

Host: I’m thinking of the 2018 murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. American intelligence concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered it….

Deutsche Welle: Human Rights watch has accused Saudi Arabian border guards of killing hundreds of Ethiopians since March, 2022. [fade under]

Host:  There’s the mass killing of migrants along the Saudi Yemen border, which we covered in an earlier episode of this podcast. 

Clip: I saw people killed in a way I have never imagined.

Host: Then there’s the executions, the suppression of free speech…

Archival/Shia Waves English: The Saudi court has sentenced a teacher to 20 years in prison for peaceful social media activities …

Host: ….not to mention the treatment of women…

HRW/Lena: And then we saw another wave of arrests that was targetting anyone who was supportive of women’s rights activists..

Host: To be be very clear, no government has a perfect human rights record. By any metric Saudi Arabia has an abysmal human rights record. 

Archival/BBC: There was only one bid. FIFA had already called it a very strong all-around proposition.

Host: So why would FIFA grant Saudi Arabia the right to host  the World Cup, especially since it has human rights commitments written into its charter? And why would Saudi Arabia agree to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to host it? Well, there’s a name for what’s going on here. It’s called “sportswashing.”

INTRO

Host: This is Rights & Wrongs, a podcast from Human Rights Watch. I'm Ngofen Mputubwele. I am a writer, a lawyer, and a radio producer. Human Rights Watch asked me to look at human rights hotspots around the world through the eyes and ears of people on the front lines of history. 

This week, “sportswashing.” What is it? Who’s doing it? What does it mean for human rights? And what can people do about it?

To get us started, I spoke with one of the world’s experts on sportswashing, who just happens to work at Human Rights Watch…

Minky Worden: I'm Minky Worden and I oversee Human Rights Watch's work on sport and human rights worldwide.

Host: Minky didn’t coin the term sportswashing… she says it first appeared in the Economist magazine. But she and her colleagues at Human Rights Watch have been doing their best to popularize the term. 

Minky:  we think it's a very effective term because sports is something that has a public appeal. It's almost a term that doesn't need a definition.

Host: Almost, but not quite. I mean, I get  that it plays off of “greenwashing,” which in turn plays off of “whitewashing.” But …

Ngofeen: Like what, what does it mean?  

Minky: Sportswashing is a new term for a really old practice. And that practice is taking something that people love, popular sports, and then using those events that you're hosting to cover up or to whitewash, uh, very serious human rights abuses in a country. And it is an old practice…

[Archival: Music from Leni Riefenstahl’s 1938 film “Olympia.”]

Host:  …we’re not talking Ancient-Greece–Mount-Olympus-old. We’re talking within a very old person’s lifetime, like… 1936.

Minky:  So a short history of modern day sportswashing begins with the Nazi Olympics. That was when Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Olympics and invited people from around the world to see the majesty of Nazi Germany.

[Archival: more from “Olympia”]

 So the Nazi games were a very good example of Nazi Germany using sport to cover up its aggression against neighboring countries and its repression of people at home.

[Archival: more from “Olympia”]

Minky: He even had his own personal what we would know now is a pr director Leni Riefenstahl, who did a film about the majesty of Nazi Germany through the lens of the Olympics, and the torch relay through countries that Adolf Hitler intended to roll tanks through. 

Host: So the term may be new, but once you have the idea of sportswashing in your head, you start to see examples of it throughout the 20th century. 

Archival/1664 cup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMtkn35p3pA

Host: In 1964 soccer’s European Nations’ Cup was held in Spain when the fascist Francisco Franco was dictator.

Archival/Rumble in the Jungle/HBO: And there you hear the sound of Ali bumbayeh…, 

Host: “Ali Bummayeh.” That means, Ali, kill’em.

Archival/Rumble in the Jungle/HBO: This is the most joyous scene…

In 1974 The Rumble in the Jungle, heavyweight title match between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman, took plaze in Zaire, now known as the DRC, during the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko.

[Olympic music]

Host: But the biggest sporting event in the 20th Century has always been the Olympics, which, after a pause in 1940 and 1944…

[newsreel: air raid sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP5-lgFaCBg]

…you know… WWII…

Newsreel con’t: explosion

…restarted in 1948, just as the Cold War was heating up…

Minky: We go through the Cold War, where the political divide, and the repression in the Soviet Union and Soviet bloc countries was  competing against the democracies in the West. And you had a period of boycott.

Archival/ NBC News: Vice president Jimmy Carter issued an ultimatum. Carter: And I have notified the Olympic committee

Host: The boycotts. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late 1979, President Jimmy Carter didn’t want to let the Soviets use the Olympics to distract the world from their aggression.

Archival/NBC news: and the Moscow games proceeded with the smallest turnout of any Olympics in decades. 

Host: In other words, Carter tried to prevent the Soviet Union from sportswashing, although the term hadn’t been invented yet. 

ABC Sports/Jim McCay: Now all the world around Los Angeles will know it has begun here….

Host: In revenge, Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 games, the next ones, in Los Angeles.  

ABC/Peter Jennings: …rich blue California sky providing a backdrop and even the blimps say “Welcome.”

Host: Which again shows you, sport is incredibly political. The 1988 Olympics, the next ones after that, took place in Montreal, with Eastern Bloc countries fully participating. The Soviet Union would fall apart in 1991, but another geopolitical rival of the U.S. was rapidly rising: China had started its astonishing economic expansion, but there was one event that would sully China’s international reputation for years to come…

BBC: After hours of shooting and facing a line of troops, the crowd is still here. They’re shouting, stop the killing…

Minky: The Tiananmen Square Massacre happened in 1989. And that really gave the Chinese government a black eye. They rolled tanks against students and workers with terrible casualties on… visible to the world on television. 

BBC/con’t: Two others were killed yards away. Two more people  lay wounded on the ground near me…

Minky: After that, the then leader, Deng Xiaoping, told his entire hierarchy, we will host the Olympics as a way of reintegrating with the world and putting forward a better, cleaner, more humane face. So China sought to host the Olympics first in the year 2000. They lost because of the Tiananmen Square massacre. It was too soon after the bloodshed, but in 2008, they won the right to host. 

Archival/Olympic Channel: 2008 Olympics opening ceremony drumming 

Minky: It wasn't just a Summer Olympics. It was billed as “China's coming out party.”

[music or more newsreel, fading out]

 Minky: So sportswashing almost always serves two purposes. The first is actually a domestic purpose. So many of these repressive countries, they don't have regular elections. This is a way actually to use a sports event to get your people interested and engaged in something that is a very nationalistic thing, hosting.

The second area is it often leads to catastrophic and large human rights abuses. 

Host:  …for the Beijing Olympics, Minky says, the Chinese government forced the evictions of as many as 10,000 people to make way for new stadiums. Human Rights Watch documented] abuses of migrant labor, and increasing repression of civil society, LGBTQ people, women, activists and journalists.   

Minky: So Deng Xiaoping back in 1993, when he set out to win the Olympics, actually set in play, set in motion, a playbook that dictators and autocrats are using today.

Archival/Olympic Channel: Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the athletes of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games 

Host: Russia deployed that playbook when they hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics…

 Minky: The state was so invested that they launched a massive state sponsored doping program to rake in the medals. 

Archival/FIFA: Here is the planet’s ultimate game….

Minky: And then in 2018 they were hosting the World Cup across Russia. But they use d forced labor, they cracked down on journalists and LGBTQ people in the process. 

Archival: And France take the lead in the World Cup final!

Minky:  The Russia World Cup was a human rights catastrophe. The research showed that North Korean slave laborers were building the St. Petersburg stadium. The Human Rights Watch researcher on labor abuses was arrested trying to report on migrant labor abuses. A lot of countries took a look at this and said, ‘Hey, let's, let's pull a card out of the playbook of China and Russia, if they can rehabilitate their human rights reputation without having to actually do reforms, maybe we can do the same.’

 Ngofeen: Hm. In the last couple of decades, we see a lot of Gulf states have taken a particular interest in, in soccer, in tennis, in golf. I want to talk about soccer for a minute. Why and when did, uh, soccer become an interest to countries like Saudi Ar abia and Qatar and the UAE? Like why soccer and when?  

Minky: I really think that dates back to the extremely corrupt awarding of the World Cups for 2018 to Russia, and the awarding in the same crooked vote to Qatar. The world cup in Qatar in 2022 was under preparation for more than a decade. It was awarded in December, 2010,  and the infrastructure was simply not there. The World Cup in Qatar cost $220 billion.

It was building eight new stadiums in the desert where they previously didn't exist. The human cost was also high. 

Host: Between 2010 and 2022, thousands of migrant workers lost their lives building stadiums and other buildings for the World Cup. Neither the Qatari government or FIFA ever investigated or explained these deaths… nor did they compensate the workers’ families. 

Fox Sports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxkg3qLIPC8

Host: Many viewed the 2022 World Cupa as a huge success. FIFA made billions of dollars.

Minky: We're talking about an event watched by five billion people worldwide. So it's the most watched and the most expensive sporting event in the world. And that's why countries are vying to host it.

Host: Even before FIFA awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi, Saudi Arabia was investing billions of dollars in sport. Through its Public Investment Fund, or PIF, the Saudi government created LIV Golf, in competition with the PGA. Saudi Arabia has hosted  heavyweight boxing title fights, and staged the world’s richest horse race. There’s Formula 1 racing events, even a longterm deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, not to mention international tennis tournaments. 

Minky: So Saudi Arabia will be the host of the FIFA World Cup in 2034. Now that's 10 years away from now, but we already have sight of their bid documents. 

Host: According to those documents,  Saudi Arabia is planning to build new stadiums... 

Minky: eleven stadiums

Host: Eleven huge stadiums that seat 60 to 100 thousand people. 

Minky: One of those stadiums will be built in a place called Neom. Neom doesn't exist. 

Host: Well it did… I mean, it wasn’t called Neom, but people lived in the area. And the Saudi government displaced that historical community…

Minky: They're building a stadium in conditions of deadly heat with a migrant labor system called the Kafala system where passports are taken and workers aren't free to leave their jobs and where there's a chronic problem of wage theft and unsafe conditions.  And that is a catastrophic risk on the horizon that is coming to the world because of Saudi Arabia's formal sportswashing policy, which is tied to what they call Vision 2030.

And that is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's signature program, both to create jobs for Saudi citizens for the young people in Saudi Arabia, but then also to create a place for Saudi Arabia on the world stage.

Host: When we come back, what does sportswashing mean for athletes… and for fans?

[HRW ad: Sam Dubberly]

NBC Sports: Newastle United match sounds

Host: Newcastle is a city in the northeast of England. It has one soccer club, Newcastle United. For the locals it’s a very big deal…

Hird:  it's got massive support. And the thing about it is that it's part of the culture. It's a very working class city. The people from the  area are called Geordies. So  it plays a big part in a central part of our, uh, Geordie culture.

Host: John Hird is a Geordie, and a lifelong Newcastle United fan. That’s why I wanted to talk to him…

Ngofeen:  In October of 2021, Saudi Arabia's public investment fund, they took an 80 percent share in the club. And I'm curious what, what was your reaction to that?

Hird: Well my initial reaction is that I was obviously totally against it. On the day the takeover happened, there was thousands of people in the street. I mean, you know, it's amazing. So it was in the middle of the week and there was surrounding the stadium, people dancing, drinking, you know, singing.  But I think the majority were there because Ashley was gone, he’d sold the club.

Archival/Daily Mail: Sounds of celebration/protest

Host: John Ashley, the former owner, was and is a British billionaire. Ashley was not well loved in Newcastle, to put it mildly. Under his watch the club had a lousy record. So fans celebrated his departure…

Hird:  It was a terrible, you know, billionaire exploitative owner of the football club. Uh, it doesn't mean it's better to have the Saudi state in control of your football club. In my opinion, out the frying pan, you know, into the fire. 

Host: John Hird is one of the founders of Newcastle United Fans Against Sportswashing, which started organizing fans to protest against Saudi human rights abuses. 

 Hird: Salma al-Shehab… 

Host: They named names…

Hird: Nourah al Qahtani…

Host: …two Saudi women who received long sentences for social media posts critical of the Saudi government…. 

Hird:  When we raised those names and, and we had photos of them, we had placards with their names on, we got abuse on social media. And some fans started to echo what the Saudi trolls and bots were doing and say, ‘Oh, they're all terrorists’. That was the answer to everything. ‘Anyone in prison by the Saudi state is a terrorist’.

So we said, look, we're not going to accept this. We're not going to accept that the Saudi state can manipulate public opinion in the Northeast. Cause that's what they were doing. 

Host: John Hird is an English teacher. His father was a union man, and John himself was a socialist as a young man in the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was in power. So maybe that’s where he comes by his sportswashing activism. 

Hird:  Basically, you know, if you're a human being and you've got some values then you support human rights, you know?  Just because our team which we love You know, a club is owed by the Saudi state doesn't mean that we're going to ignore, uh, human rights, you know? So that’s the motivation.

Ngofeen:  And so I know that some fans like gave up their season tickets and there were various, like what, basically, what are the kinds of reactions that you saw as this sort of settled in as being the new reality?

Hird: If you ask what the fans thought, I'd say it's in three parts. Vast majority in the middle, good people. If you sit down with them and talk to them and say, look, we support human rights, we do. Most people do. But there's that small minority who have been basically sports washed. 

****

 Minky: We work with a lot of fans groups around the world, and they all say, fans don't want to sit in a stadium that workers died to build.

Host: Once again, Human Rights Watch’s Minky Worden….

Minky: They don't want to sit in a place where if they wear a rainbow shirt in solidarity with LGBT rights, where they're tackled to the ground and beaten up. That happened in Qatar for, for fans who came from outside just to watch the World Cup.

Host: What about the people that fans come to watch? What about the athletes? How do they figure into sportswashing? While some very famous athletes are making a lot of money in Saudi Arabia, Minky says that most athletes have similar concerns as fans…

Minky:  Soccer players, football players, men, women, no one wants to play in a stadium that workers died to build. And players have told Human Rights Watch this.

Host: Athletic federations like FIFA and the Women’s Tennis Association and Formula One have human rights requirements built into their charters, often crafted under pressure from Human Rights Watch and colleague organizations. And yet, Minky says these federations often don’t want their athletes to rock the boat...

Minky:  The federations are increasingly muzzling these athletes. You know, along with boxing, football, tennis, and golf going to Saudi Arabia, the Formula One race has gone to Saudi Arabia.

Top driver, Lewis Hamilton wore, for the race, a rainbow helmet. He didn't say anything, and he didn't need to. He was telling the world about his values. But ever since then,  it's been documented that players are having to sign so-called non-disparagement clauses. And that means that even if they feel strongly about something, they're not allowed to speak. That’s completely unacceptable.. 

Host: Yet there are signs of athletes pushing back.

Host: Back in October, after FIFA announced that the giant state-owned Saudi Oil company Aramco would be a major partner, more than a hundred female soccer players wrote a letter to FIFA in protest. Here’s a bit of that letter…

Reader: The Saudi authorities trample not only on the rights of women, but on the freedom of all other citizens too. We deserve so much better from our governing body than its allyship with this nightmare sponsor.

Minky: So it's almost unthinkable that FIFA would move forward to award the World Cup in a place that has credible allegations of things  amounting to modern day slavery.

Host: So what can people do about it, and about sportswashing more generally? Well, if you're a fan and your team or your favorite player is part of a sportswashing scheme, says Minky, you’ve got some leverage…

Minky: So  if you think about the ecosystem of sports, it's a big business, it's a multi trillion dollar business. And guess what the product is. You. You are the product, your love for tennis, boxing, Formula One, football, American or European football, that is what these companies are selling. So there are absolutely pressure points. Your views matter. The pressure points are on the federations, but it's also on sponsors. So remember what underwrites these multibillion dollar events? It's Coca Cola, Adidas, Visa, McDonald's, Budweiser. What fans can do is tell these companies that you care about human rights, you care about where these events are staged, and you don't want to sit in a stadium that workers died to build, and you don't want to participate in a sport where, that is not open and inclusive and welcoming of the players that make it possible.

Host: Meanwhile, in Newcastle, fans like John Hird have not let up in their efforts to keep their club and its fans from being sportswashed…

Ngofeen:  John, one big question here. Do you still go to games?

Hird: Well, I think I would be a little bit of a hypocrite if I went to games, but we, we've discussed it and we don't call for a boycott.

We distributed, uh, posters of Selma Alva to Newcastle fans and we said, hold them up in the stadium. All we say to Newcastle fans is if you go, and we're not saying boycott, but if you go,  at punctual times, do a protest. The Saudi human rights advocates have said to  us they have a massive effect.So we've tried to do that. But I personally wouldn't go at the moment. No, but I watch them. I watch it on the TV. Yeah. 

OUTRO:

Host: John Hird is one of the founders of Newcastle United Fans Against Sportswashing. Minky Worden oversees Human Rights Watch's work on sport and human rights worldwide.

The archival clips in this episode were from NBC Sports, The BBC, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, ABC News In-Depth, Shia Waves English, ABC News, Leni Riefenstahl’s film Olympia, HBO, NBC News, the Olympic Channel, FIFA, Fox Sports,The Daily Mail, and Business Loop.

You’ve been listening to Rights and Wrongs, from Human Rights Watch. This episode was produced by me and Curtis Fox. Our associate producer is Sophie Soloway. Thanks also to Ifé Fatunase, Stacy Sullivan, and Anthony Gale. 

I’m Ngofeen Mputubwele. Talk to you again in two weeks.